Described herein are DC-DC converters with a ratio of the power output to volume of at least 2 kW per liter or even at least 4 kW per liter. Such DC-DC converters can operate at power levels of at least 150 kW or even at least 200 kW. A DC-DC converter comprises an enclosure and a front plate sealed against the enclosure using a set of fasteners. The DC-DC converter also comprises a converter unit comprising a switching sub-module, a diode sub-module, and an inductor as well as an additional converter unit comprising an additional switching sub-module, an additional diode sub-module, and an additional inductor. The switching sub-module and the additional switching sub-module or, more generally, the converter unit and the additional converter unit are configured to operate out of phase. The inductors are immersed cooled, the switching sub-modules are conductively cooled, while the diode sub-modules are convectively cooled.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
2. The DC-DC converter of claim 1, wherein the ratio of the power output (P) of the DC-DC converter to the converter volume (V) is at least 4 kW per liter.
5. The DC-DC converter of claim 1, wherein each of the inductor and the additional inductor is immersion-liquid cooled.
7. The DC-DC converter of claim 6, wherein the set of high-voltage capacitors comprises three capacitors connected in parallel.
9. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, wherein the cooling plate is positioned between and thermally coupled to each of (1) a first set of the switching sub-module and the diode sub-module and (2) a second set of the additional switching sub-module and the additional diode sub-module.
10. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, wherein the cooling plate comprises an interior cavity, extending between a cavity inlet and a cavity outlet and configured to flow a plate-cooling liquid through the cooling plate between the cavity inlet and the cavity outlet.
11. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, further comprising a heat exchanger and an additional heat exchanger, wherein the cooling plate is positioned between and thermally coupled to each of the heat exchanger and the additional heat exchanger.
12. The DC-DC converter of claim 8, wherein the converter unit and the additional converter unit are configured to operate out of phase.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein operating the DC-DC converter comprises flowing an inductor-cooling liquid through the inductor and the additional inductor such that the inductor and the additional inductor are immersion-liquid cooled.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the converter unit and the additional converter unit are configured to operate out of phase.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the converter volume (V) is less than 50 liters.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
September 15, 2023
July 30, 2024
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